FWIW I would never consider even a small HEA speaker a "bookshelf" speaker. A stand mount speaker is often more advantageous to the manufacturer than consumer. Why? Shipping/manufacturing costs/stands and even pushing subwoofer(s) are all additional profit makers. Is a Tower speaker more difficult with room placement? Probably, but most of the Audiophile community accept room acoustic treatments are a necessity thus eliminating most(all?) advantages that a stand mount speaker might possess.
Why "bookshelf" sspeakers?
This is not a rhetorical question. I’m asking because I don’t know.
The question is this: What is the point of "bookshelf" style speakers if they are not going on a bookshelf or table? In other words they are on speaker stands.
Here is the reason I’m asking. For a short time I had a pair of Aerial Acoustics 5T speakers along with a pair of Aerial Acoustics 6T towers (which I still have).
I listened to each set of speakers through a Bryston AV amp. I felt like the 6Ts sounded much better. More bass. Fuller sound. (I think a subwoofer would have resolved that easily for the 5Ts.)
The 5Ts are not exactly small and would barely fit on most bookshelves (although they are front ported and recommended for bookshelves by AE). The ones I listened to were on heavy metal stands which made them almost as big and heavy as the 6Ts.
So why buy smaller speakers which need to go on large heavy stands that make them as big as a floor standing speaker and not sound as good? Space saving does not seem to be the answer and I see some ’bookshelf’ speakers that are a good bit bigger than the AE 5ts.
I’m sure there must be a good reason since I see many people with them. And of course my assumption that a floor stander sounds better than a bookshelf might be wrong.
I guess cost comes into play somewhere in the equation as well.
Interested in people’s thoughts on this.
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@grannyring Yes, exceptions always exist. The Seawave Acoustic AM 23($20K) might exceed the Totem Element Metal V2($18.5k) but I have not heard a better allrounder for < $20k regardless of speaker size or type. In general the consumer is getting more value/sound for his money with a tower speaker. |
There are several points I don't understand: 1. "Bigger floor-mounted boxes may have coloration from cabinet vibrations and resonance which can impact the coherence and detail of the midband." It seems to me that any poorly designed cabinet can have issues, small or large. For a comparison to matter I think we'd have to compare well designed towers vs well designed bookshelfs. 2. The point keeps getting made that stand mounted speakers and subs are easier to position in a room to optimize room acoustics. Why would this be any different from floorstanders. The Aerial Acoustics 5Ts on heavy stands were no easier to move or position than the 6T towers. And subs aren't exclusive to stand mount systems so they can be used with towers too. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I'm not in the market for speakers and this was just something that puzzled me.
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